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Last year Oxford University researchers published a list of the Top Ten Most Irritating Phrases. Thanks to Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace for the reminder in his recent blog post. It's a good review, especially for those of you actively interviewing.

The top ten most irritating phrases:

At the end of the day

Fairly unique

I personally

At this moment in time

With all due respect

Absolutely

It's a nightmare

Shouldn't of (it is "shouldn′t have")

24/7

It's not rocket science

I'd add "thinking out of the box" or any other variation of this overused expression. What would you add to the list?

“At the end of the day” I think this post is “Fairly unique”. “I personally”, never use these phrases or at least, “at this moment in time”. Please, “With all due respect”, “Itâ€™s a nightmare” and these phrases “Shouldnâ€™t of” been created. “Absolutely”, I hear people using them “24/7″. I mean, come on people!! “Itâ€™s not rocket science”

Hey, thanks for the mention. These kinds of phrases really get the blood pumping and the comments rolling.

I’m thinking that every interviewer ought to be allowed one legal, legitimate “whack”/year when one of these is uttered by a candidate. Heck, instant feedback could prove helpful–at the next interview.

How about the word “quit” as in: …and that’s why I decided to quit my job. Versus explaining why you left a company for personal or professional reasons. Anyone who admits to me that they “quit” a former job, would not be someone I’d rush to hire.

One thing to be careful of: No matter what you do, where you are, or who you’re talking to (to whom you’re talking?), spoken English is not, and should not be, the same as well practiced and highly edited, by the book, written English. Do you think Shakespeare spoke the way he wrote? If he did, he’d probably have been run out of town. Yes, of course some phrases are ridiculously overused, and many of those are meaningless or counterproductive. Some are just quibbles (e.g., “couldn’t care less” and “could care less” being equally acceptable, for example. The second is just a little more sarcastic, rather than direct). At the same time — another example — my opening sentence reads “One thing to be careful of”… but correct usage would dictate “one thing of which to be careful”. Now, how many of you speak THAT correctly under normal conditions, never mind under the tension of a job interview? (Put your hands down, you two in the back — you know you do it!)

But I would still add “awesome” or “cool”, especially when reacting to how much fun everyone has working here, or especially in reaction to an actual offer (do people even get offers these days?)

If you’re from New England — don’t say “wicked cool” or for that matter, “wicked” anything.

And please — whether spoken freely in your office, the cafeteria, or obviously in an interview, can we delete “whatever” from every edition of every dictionary, other than those reference dictionaries for students of archaic language usage?